Live Review: Nekrogoblikon - Club Academy, Manchester
25th September 2025
Words: Dan Barnes
Photos: Rich Price
Certain religiously minded folks were predicting the Rapture this week, but the traffic into town hardly seems to have lessened any, leading me to believe one of two statements must be true: a) it didn’t happen, or b) the good people of Manchester did not make the cut.
Whichever is the case, the Mancunian Way is its usual congested self, meaning I only get to see the final three songs of Church Road Records’ Grief Ritual who are busy laying the vibes for the evening and projecting disaffected bile at the state of the world. Ironically, they’re part way through Bile when I arrive, taken from this years’ Collapse full-length debut, their combination of blackened metal and hardcore a perfect vehicle to get the early evening blood pumping. Immurement comes from the Spiritual Disease EP and the show ends with Gnaw. Our man Matt gave Collapse a scintillating review back in January, and the intervening time on the road has allowed the band to further sharpen that cutting edge.
Scottish Slammers, Party Cannon are perhaps the widest chasm between their image and their sound. I know folks who were reluctant to listen based on the name and the bubble logo, but, boy, when those tunes kicked in… By now, we know the script: it’s a good old time, with a brutal death metal soundtrack – simples. Beech balls and pig grunts fill the basement of the Academy for one of the most welcome disconnects in the genre.
Injuries are Inevitable’s Weird, But Not Illegal is introduced with reference to the band’s Only Fans account and finds a skull-masked air guitarist riffing on a giant cut-out penis (now, that’s a sentence I never imagined writing!). Filthy breakdowns abound through newbies Thirst Trap and High Tarriff Behaviour. Calls for the night’s biggest circle pit is responded to with a sizeable circulation of people, including someone riding an inflatable dolphin. Later, the pit becomes refined and is the epicentre of a waltz during Duct Taped to a Flagpole from the aptly titled Parties in Half EP.
The final trip to the new album comes at the climax of the set, with Human Slime, introduced by Daryl Boyce as being about getting a sloppy blow job; it’s slow and grinding (I’m talking about the tune, here not the…) and has the band calling for press-ups in the pit. I cannot wait to see how this lot destroy Catton Park’s mainstage next summer.
It’s something of a change of style when Colarado’s melodic death metallers, Allegaeon, hit the stage. Frontman Ezra Haynes has been back in the band for three years now and this years’ The Ossuary Lens is the first album to feature his vocals since Elements of the Infinite in 2014.
That said, the band do not shy away from the Riley McShane years by including …Of Beasts and Worms and Proponent for Sentience III – The Extermination in tonight’s set. But it’s inevitably the new record that takes the lion’s share of the band’s time: Chaos Theory opens the show with a definite feel of not letting Party Cannon’s fury steel Allegaeon’s thunder. Biomech – Vals No 666 includes some technicality along with its classic heavy metal sounds, and has Ezra visibly moved than Manchester know the band’s material.
Driftwood features some electronic elements, The Swarm opens progressively but quickly descends into a raging torrent as it moves along, and there are even moments of Maiden-like multi-guitar work going on amid the cosmic ambience of it all. Ending with 1.618, Ezra proclaims this has been the band’s greatest ever Manchester show and brings to a close the rip-roaring set.
LA’s Nekrogoblikon have been regular visitors to these shores for many years, including appearances at Download in 2013 and Bloodstock in 2022, despite the band’s personnel being in almost constant flux. What cannot be denied is the seeming ferocity of the fan-base as there is a large and growing queue for merchandise from the outset, and the number of shirts and green-goblin hats is astounding for such a small venue.
This Show Me Your Goblin tour has been trucking around the UK and Ireland for the past week as it encompasses a dozen dates across these islands, bringing a blend of harsh metal and vaudevillian theatrics to a stage near you.
It’s a one-two-three opening salvo from the 2018 record, Welcome to Bonkers, with Darkness, the obligatory Dressed as Goblins, and Row, the beginning of which sees a mass rush to the front of the stage. Electronics and growls has the crowd eating out of the band’s hands, and even comments about Manchester United and Oasis cannot dampen the atmosphere.
More recent tunes, Bones and Going to Die arrive next, synth heavy and in the vein of the Pendulum-craze of the late noughties, where guitars took more of a backseat to other instrumentation. There’s even a baroque underscoring going on, much to the chagrin of Igorrr, no doubt.
Under the goblin mask, Grady ‘John Gobllikon’ Welch’s cleans are sharp and clear, combining with Dickie Allen’s harsh growls, lending a Three Inches of Blood vibe to the vocal approach. Musically, longest serving member Alex Alereza leads the band through all manner of musical landscapes, all to the sheer delight of the gathered Manchester faithful.
Bring Us More opens with a snippet of Korn’s Blind, Show Me Your Goblin is an obvious rabble-rouser and the set closer of Powercore effectively puts a definition onto the band’s wide and deep musical influences.
Nekrogoblikon has never really been on my radar, but it’s undeniable their fan-base is as rabid as anything Kiss, AC/DC or Slayer can boast; and this touring package is another example of getting a few bands together, who may or may not compliment each other, and getting out on the road. The winner every time are the punters with the tickets.
Photo Credits: Rich Price Photography
